Why it took somebody over 40 years to do a soul cover version of Black Sabbath's "Changes" is beyond me, but thank god somebody finally did because it works so well it makes my heart swell. 67-year old Charles Bradley's latest album on Daptone Records, appropriately titled "Changes" features the moving cover, and it will be the best thing you hear all day. Watch the video below.

The folks over at the always dependable Flenser have a new record from Muscle and Marrow coming out in May. "Love" is driving and beautiful mix of electronics, doomy, haunting vocals, elements of black metal, and all around experimental arrangements. It's very dark and gloomy stuff. Listen to "My Fear" below.

May sees the release of a brand spanking new Perturbator record! That's awesome news for those of us who enjoy retro-futuristic, sci-fi synth jams. Watch the video for "Sentient" below, featuring vocals from Hayley Stewart and some 16-bit animated boobs (so NSFW?), and pre-order the "Uncanny Valley" LP from Blood Music while they're still available.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

When Bowie released "Heathen" in 2002, the CD came with a bonus disc featuring a couple of rare tracks and remixes. One of those was Moby's mix of album opener "Sunday." Listen below, your Daily Bowie.

There's an awful lot of hype surrounding the new track from A.K. Paul, and maybe rightly so. "Landcruisin'" is a kind of fractured Prince style of R&B, full of disorderly beats and retro, sci-fi synths. It's kind of infectious...dance music for the huddled, replicating masses. Listen to the single below and get it from the Paul Institute.

In 2014, UK based chamber pop duo Cat's Eyes provided the enchanting score for the film "The Duke of Burgundy." June sees the release of the band's latest album "Treasure House" on RAF Records. Check out the video for the haunting and beautiful "Drag" below, a track and video that tackle some pretty dark and ugly subject matter, featuring a fairly graphic portrayal of domestic violence. It's important.

One of the band's i caught a week ago during SXSW that i had no foreknowledge of was the Canadian band Dilly Dally...and they rocked my damn face off. Combing through a slew of riot grrrl influences and snot-nosed sneer, these alt-rock punk girls and guys are about as loud as they come, ready to shred ears and bash in brains. Listen to "Desire" below and get the "Sore" LP from Buzz Records.

There's a compilation album of retro-synth covers of "Mega Man" music? Sold. "Mega Man 2" is still probably my favorite game of all time, and i've always adored the 8-bit soundtrack that accompanies it. Download the album from New Horizons Records and listen to Occams Laser's take on "Wood Man" below.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Man oh man there's a lot of great stuff coming out next week. It's been over a decade since Mike Patton last teamed with Norwegian composer John Kaada for the duo's "Romances," but at last we get a sophomore effort with the forthcoming "Bacteria Cult," out on 4/1 on Ipecac. The pair make a kind of off kilter classical pop music, something cinematic in scope and indebted to the film score compositions of Morricone and the like. Listen to album opener "Red Rainbow" below.

Has it really been 6 years since we last got a proper album from Canadian prog rock stoners Black Mountain? That's just crazy. The long overdue "IV" is out next week on Jagjaguwar, and to get you in the right state of mind for its release, watch the trippy video for "Mothers of the Sun," below, fever dream hallucinatory images accompanying killer stoned guitar riffs, howling organs, and interstellar exploratory vocals, piercing that third eye. I didn't realize i missed good, old fashioned prog rock so much.

It never seemed to matter what genre of music Bowie chose to explore and create with, he always seemed to tweak it enough to make it something truly original and truly Bowie, as exemplified by his Philly Soul influenced 1975 record "Young Americans." Listen to "Right" below, your Daily Bowie.

Nirvana is one of those bands that i have such a deep, emotional attachment to, that i'm often highly suspect of cover versions of their songs. But, when you get one that's as original and as great as alt-country(?) artist and psychedelic cowboy Sturgill Simpson's take on "In Bloom" is, all those worries just wash away. He turns to the song into almost something of a love ballad, and then those glorious horns at song's end. Watch the entrancing and somewhat creepy video for the song below and get the "A Sailor's Guide to Earth" LP next month from Atlantic.

LA's dubby, experimental pop duo Peaking Lights are lining up a series of 12" singles to release on their Two Flowers imprint over the summer. The first is the sunny, airy, psych-disco jam "Conga Blue." I realize that Spring only just started, but this is a summer single if there ever was one. Listen below, download here, be on the lookout for the vinyl in a couple months, and bring me some sunscreen and a cocktail.

Going back 50 years for today's Daily Bowie, a 1966 single for the song "I Dig Everything." As a young man, still searching for his voice, the tune is so decidedly 60's, it's almost hard to imagine what Bowie would morph into over the following years. Listen below.

LA's Bleached have always made fun little garage rock nuggets, but on their new album "Welcome the Worms," out next week on Dead Oceans, the ladies seem to be tapping into a bigger, more stomping form of pop-rawk, belting out the jams like some kind of spitting, sneering sirens, luring and daring you to the stage. It's really damn good and fun. Listen to "Wednesday Night Melody" below.

A band i got into late last year, with an abundance of music available on bandcamp, was Virginia's Car Seat Headrest, a wonderful mix of lo-fi rock anthems, alt-rock haze, and bedroom pop introspection and self-awareness. May sees the release of "Teens of Denial," the band's next album on Matador and the first of all new material, and the kids still seem to very much have their fingers on the pulse of...me. Listen to "Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales" below.

If you're looking to get that lo-fi itch scratched, look no further than the upcoming final record of Teen Suicide, "It's the Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot," out next month on Run For Cover. I'm kind of pissed that these guys are calling it quits, seeing as i've only just now discovered them. Anyway, dig on the video to the Robert Pollard indebted "Alex" below and preorder the album here.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

I didn't get to see everything i would have liked to this year, but that's par for the course with this crazy thing we call SXSW, and for some reason, these pictures are out of order. Hmm. Anyway, my favs for the week were Feels, Gwenno, and PWR BTTM. I also set up a Spotify account for the sole purpose of seeing Car Seat Headrest and Hinds...and for getting some free beer. I'm pathetic and predictable, but at least i had fun. Here's a bunch of pics...

Porches

Hinds

Day Wave

Car Seat Headrest

PMS and The Mood Swings

Peaches

New Madrid

Marlon Williams

Soul Asylum

Bombino

Ash, eating icecream and kicking out the jams.

Feels

Surfbort

Whitney

Wall

All Dogs

PWR BTTM

Frankie Cosmos

Palm

Dilly Dally

Vaadat Charigim

Gwenno

Girls Names

Pillar Point

Cullen Omori

Gwenno (again)

PWR BTTM (again)

Methyl Ethel

I'm gonna try to do this again next year, but i sure am getting old and tired.